Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to develop the technology sector.

The digital sector contributed £151bn to the UK economy in 2019 and accounts for 7.6% of UK GVA. It supports 1.6 million jobs and around 232,000 businesses of which almost all are SMEs. The Government is taking great strides to support this growth, championing the digital sector across Whitehall and supporting it through EU Exit and the pandemic.

As many companies struggled due to the pandemic, HMG introduced unprecedented support for the sector, including the Future Fund, Bounce Back Loans and Coronavirus Business Loans. The Future Fund alone has disbursed £1,066m in convertible loans to 1,055 innovative companies facing difficulties, including digital businesses.

Throughout the EU Exit process, HMG engaged regularly with the sector to understand their concerns, providing bespoke guidance for the sector throughout the Transition Period.

Last year DCMS introduced the UK Gigabit Programme and the Shared Rural Network programme to develop the country’s broadband infrastructure; introduced a Digital Markets Taskforce, an Online Harms White Paper response and a Digital Identity Call for Evidence to ensure people remain safe online. We ran an entirely digital London Tech Week to show our support for the sector. This event was a resounding success, with initial figures suggesting 2,500 unique viewers attended each day, with 24,000 registering for the entire event. DCMS also delivers support through Tech Nation and our Digital Trade Network.